daniel dennett asks, how did just one species, homo sapiens, acquire the numinous perspective that can have such a profound influence on people's lives? he seems to think that religions evolved and originally served a 'primitive' philosophical intention - such as explaining the hidden 'causes' of natural events in pre-scientific societies. to give just one example: the rise and fall of the tides were observed, but not understood. so the phenomena were attributed to the power of a god (or gods) etc. i think this is a pretty commonplace answer, but not necessarily wrong.  why has religion survived the scepticism of the intellectual enlightenment and the rational attacks of science? the idea that some fundamental 'psychic need' in humanity is satisfied by having religious beliefs seems (to me) the most promising speculation.
Label: Sarcastic